Combination display rack and tray



Feb. 20, 1951 w. R; GUNDERSON COMBINATION DISPLAY RACK AND TRAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 13, 1949 Feb. 20, 1951 w. R. GUNDERSON COMBINATION DISPLAY RACK AND TRAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 0 13, 1949 Patented Feb. 20, 1951 COMBINATION DISPLAYR'AQK AND TRAY" Willard Gunderson, D llas. ex .as i n r o Th Frito Company, Dallasifrczsv. a. corporation of Texas ApplicationJune13, 1949, Seriai'N'o. 98,868

This invention relates to .a. combined displa rack and tray.

The main object of the invention is to provide. a combined rack and tray for supporting a. plurality of articles for display purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rack wherein the supporting legs of the same will aid in retaining a plurality of articles stacked in pyramid fashion upon a tray positioned below the rack and supported by the legs of the rack.

Another object of the invention is to enable a plurality of cylindrical objects of merchandise to be stacked in pyramid fashion upon a suitable support, wherein the lowermost objects may be conveniently withdrawn from the pyramid, and wherein an upper cylindrical article will displace the withdrawn article, thereby constantly positioning articles for withdrawal until the supply thereof has become exhausted.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the combined display rack and tray;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of the invention.

In the drawings, the tray, generally indicated by reference numeral I0, is formed of wire and is provided with a substantially rectangularly shaped upper wire I i and a similarly shaped lower wire l2, which wires are secured together by means of partitioning wires i3 and upstanding wires {4. The upstanding wires I4 are formed integral with horizontal wires 85, which horizontally positioned wires form a portion of the bottom wall of the rack. Additional wires it also aid in forming a portion of the bottom wall, the parallel wires l6 having upstanding portions I! which are secured to the bottom rectangular wire l2. Wires 2B and 2! are secured to each of the cross wires l5 and I6 and aid in forming a portion of the bottom of the tray and further function as reinforcing ties for the other aforementioned cross wires.

It will be noted that wires 29 and 2| are bent at substantially right angles to form legs for supporting the rack iii. The downwardly extending portion of wire 29 gradually converges at 22 to a similarly converging portion 23 of wire 2!. Thereafter, the depending portions of wires 20 and 2| diverge outwardly from each other, as indicated at 24 and 25, until they reach their bottom portion. The bottom portions. of the. diverging wires. 24 and 25 are, curved up wardly to provide feet for the same.

A tray 36 has upstanding side edges 31, the: tray being secured by means of welding or the like to the inner portions of each of the pairs of diverging legs 24 and 25, as is fully illustrated in Fig. 1. The forward edges of the tray 3|] are curved upwardly as shown at 33, and each forward edge is provided with a plurality of slots 34 for purposes later to be described.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, a plurality of cylindrical packages of merchandise, such as packages of peanut butter crackers or the like, are stacked upon the tray 39 in pyramid fashion. The side walls SI of the tray 30 will prevent lateral outward displacement of the bottom row of the packages while the pair of converging legs 24 and 25 will prevent lateral outward displacement of the upper rows of articles and, at the same time,further aid the side edges 3i of the tray 30 for preventing lateral displacement of the bottom row of articles. The upturned curved forward edges 33, as shown particularly in Fig. 3, function to prevent outward displacement of the bottom row of articles until they are forcibly removed therefrom.

It will be obvious, of course, that the rack I0 is adapted to support a plurality of rows of packages, such as peanuts, potato chips and the like. display rack and tray, the articles of merchandise supported in the rack may be removed in the usual manner.

In removing an article from the tray 30, a purchaser will insert either a finger or thumb in one of the slots 34 and grasp thelower portion of the cylindrical object while the upper exposed portion is being grasped. Thereafter, of course, the article may be pulled away from the tray. As the bottom article of a row of the pyramid is removed, the upper two articles will descend in the pyramid, and this action will continue until all of the articles have been removed.

As shown in Fig. 5, the rack may be supported by means of a suction cup 4!! having a clamp 42 secured thereto. The clamp 42 is adapted to embrace the upper rectangular wire to support the rack against the side of a wall or other flat surface. In the modified form of the invention, a plurality of the suction cups-supporting brackets 42 may be utilized to maintain the device in proper alignment. In this modification, the legs which are formed integrally with a por- In utilizing the invention as a combined tion of the bottom of the tray function to support the tray 30 relative to the rack 10. The function and operation are otherwise the same as previously mentioned in connection with the preferred form of the invention.

I claim:

A display stand comprising a rack for support: ing alinged rows of packages of merchandise, said rack having a bottom wall and side and end walls, two pairs of legs formed integrally with a portion of the bottom wall of said rack and depending therefrom adjacent the end walls of said rack, the legs of a pair being positioned in substantially the same vertical plane and each leg of the pair converging toward the other from their bottom end upwardly, a tray secured to the inner side of each pair of legs adjacent their lower ends, said tray being adapted to support a plurality of articles in stacked pyramid fashion, said tray having straight upwardly turned side edges parallel to each other and positioned adjacent each of the pair of legs, said side edges retaining the ends of the bottom row of articles to prevent their lateral outward displacement, the converging portion of each of said pair of legs 4 functioning to retain the ends of the upper rows of the articles in the pyramid against lateral outward displacement.

WILLARD R. GUNDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,160,313 Moses Nov. 16, 1915 1,485,852 Jarvis Mar. 4, 1924 1,754,998 Geartts Apr. 15, 1930 2,081,602 Rubenstein May 25, 1937 2,119,442 Robinson May 31, 1938 2,204,446 Robinson June 11, 1940 2,276,121 Thorn et al Mar. 10, 1942 2,440,507 Geralds Apr. 27, 1948 2,453,030 Newman Nov. 2, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 325,066 Great Britain Feb. 13, 1930 

